Aniville
by mesomeso
Summary: Jin's adventures in Aniville.
1. Chapter 1

Jin awoke as the day broke over Aniville. She struggled against the rising sun, her eyes opening slowly, the light stabbing into them like…well, Jin supposed, like a knife. What else was there to stab something with? A stick of asparagus? _A syringe, _thought Jin. You could stab people with syringes, right?  
'Hi there!'  
Jin couldn't remember hearing the footsteps, but when she looked up, a cat stood there. A blue and white cat, with a grin stretching from ear to ear.  
'Mind if I sit down?'  
Jin hadn't even answered when the cat simply sat down in the empty seat before her. The entire carriage was empty. Aniville was the last stop. Almost everyone else on the train had gotten off at Midgard, which was two stops before, and the remainder – aside from Jin and evidently, this strange cat – had left at Limon, the stop before Aniville. Despite all she had heard about Aniville – how gorgeous the scenery was, how nice the villagers were, how impressive the shopping district was – she was, apparently, the only person who wanted to go and live there.  
'Sorry,' said the cat, bringing her out of her thoughts, 'I never got your name!'  
'Oh! Jin. My name's Jin,' she said, smiling shyly.  
'Jin…' said the cat. 'What a nice name! I'm Rover.'  
_Isn't that more of a dog's name? _thought Jin. Then again, she couldn't really talk. For years she had had to correct people when they snickered and assumed that her mother had been an alcoholic.  
'So, Jin, what brings you to Aniville?' asked Rover. 'At least, I guess that's where you're going. You haven't missed your stop, have you?'  
'No, no. I'm actually moving there.' Jin gripped the handle of her suitcase a little tighter.  
'Moving!' Rover said, impressed. 'All by yourself? No parents?'  
'I'm older than a lot of people think.'  
'In your mind?'  
'No,' Jin said, getting agitated, 'for real.'  
'How old are you, then?'  
'That would be telling.'  
'Alright, alright! I believe you. So you're definitely not running away?'  
'I'm definitely not running away.'  
'Well, that's all well and good. Although if you were, I don't know why you'd want to run away to Aniville.'  
'What's wrong with Aniville?'  
Rover blinked. 'Oh, it's just that, well, they're very set in their ways. Of course they'll welcome you, but…'  
The sound of the driver's voice boomed through the carriage as Rover's voice trailed away.  
'Last stop, Aniville! Now stopping at Aniville!'  
'Oh!' Rover exclaimed. 'Here we are! Aniville!'  
The train drew to a slow stop and Jin stood up. Rover picked up her suitcase and handed it to her.  
'I hope you have a great time in Aniville, Jin.'  
'Thanks, Rover.' She was about to add _you, too, _but thought better of it. Walking over to the still-closed train doors, waiting for them to open, pangs of excitement rose up in Jin. This was it! Her new life! It was a beautiful sunny day, and there a sense of happiness in the air, a sense that anything could happen…  
The doors didn't open.  
Jin turned to Rover, confused, but still smiling. 'Does it usually take this long for the doors to open?'  
But Rover was looking out of the window, a look of concern on his face. 'What's happening?'  
As though in answer, the driver's voice resonated through the carriage once again.  
'My…my apologies, ladies and gentlemen, it seems as though…I – there's been a bit of an accident.' He blurted the last few words out, as though saying them quickly would soften the impact.  
'An accident?' whispered Jin. 'Oh my goodness, no one's hurt, are they?'  
'I hope not. Let me see…' Rover walked smartly over to the opposite end of the train and glanced out of the window. His eyes widened.  
'No. Oh, _no_…'  
'What is it, Rover?' asked Jin curiously, going to look out of the window.  
'Jin, don't look!' said Rover desperately, trying to push Jin away. She wormed her way out of his grip and stared out of the window.  
On the platform was an open satchel, with books and paper and apples scattered everywhere. The porter, a monkey, stood there horrified, with tears in his eyes and his paws over his mouth. A ripped jacket flapped around on the platform, torn from the back of the animal who had worn it.  
Splattered across the tracks, and across the side of the train, was slick red blood.


	2. Chapter 2

Three hours. That was how long it had taken for Jin to set foot in Aniville. The Aniville police officer, a gormless looking dog, arrived. The porter and the driver cleaned the blood and carnage from the tracks and the train. The police officer collected up the jacket and the satchel, along with the contents, and asked questions. To the porter, to the driver, to Rover – and to Jin.  
'I didn't see anything,' Jin gabbled when the police officer, whom she discovered was called Booker, asked. 'Honestly, I didn't. One second the driver announced that Aniville was the next stop, the next – he said that there was an accident…'  
'Okay,' said Booker. 'Um…Ms. Jin, uh…why were you, uh, coming to Aniville, anyway?'  
'I was supposed to move in,' she whispered. 'Am I still going to?'  
'Yeah, I – I think so. I'll have to speak to the mayor.'  
Speak to the mayor he did, and in a matter of hours Jin was taking her first steps in Aniville. The brochures had not lied about its beauty. If anything, they had failed to capture the immense scope of it. Tall, lush green trees, bursting with fruit of all kinds. Grass so soft you could sleep on it. Flowing blue rivers, filling the air with the sweet sound of trickling water. It looked like a dream.  
The porter had shakily given her a map and said, 'Town Hall'. The map was labelled, with little diagrams for different buildings. Jin passed the police station on her way to the Town Hall. It was, in reality, very close to the tracks. With a gulp, Jin wondered if those sort of accidents happened a lot.  
As Jin was crossing a brick bridge, she heard somebody call after her.  
'Hey! Jin!'  
She thought for a second that it might have been Rover, but the animal running at her was not a cat. It was a cherry-coloured dog, with black floppy ears. She grinned as she caught up with Jin.  
'Hi. How're ya doin'? I'm Cherry. Mayor Taïga told me you were coming! I was supposed to meet you at the train station, but…' a look of sadness flitted over Cherry's face, 'you know…the accident.' She sighed. 'Anyway, I'll take you to the Town Hall! Everyone can't wait to meet you so the sooner you get registered, the better!'  
'Registered?'  
'As a resident of Aniville!' Cherry said, grinning. 'Come on. Let's go.' 

When Cherry led Jin into the Town Hall, they found it empty.  
'Huh,' said Cherry, confused. 'Isabelle is always here, unless there's a festival. Which there isn't.'  
As though on cue, the door opened, and a yellow dog wearing tinkling bells shuffled in. She did a double take at the sight of Jin and Cherry.  
'Oh, hello!' She raised her head to smile at Jin, and she saw that her eyes were red and puffy. She had obviously been crying.  
'My name's Isabelle! And you must be Jin.' Isabelle shuffled behind the desk. 'I'm also Mayor Taïga's personal secretary. I hope you'll be very happy here.'  
Cherry coughed. 'Uh, Isabelle…?'  
'Hm? Oh, yes!' Isabelle produced a basket of cherries from behind her desk and slid them over to Cherry. She slipped them into her bag.  
'Thanks, Isabelle. See ya, Jin. Come for a coffee later, yeah?' She grinned, and left.  
Jin watched her go. When the door was closed, she turned back to Isabelle, confused.  
'Why did you do that?' she asked.  
Isabelle reached up and touched her ear. It seemed to be a signal of some sort. 'Sorry, I didn't quite catch that, Jin.'  
_I might have just witnessed something illegal, _Jin realised. Maybe those cherries were actually drugs, or something. Booker didn't seem the type to actively go and out and investigate something, but it seemed a good idea to try and it keep it under wraps.  
'Oh, nothing. Don't worry.'  
Isabelle smiled. 'That's good. Anyway! First things first, have you decided where you're going to live?'  
This took Jin aback. 'Sorry?'  
'Well, you do need a house, you know!'  
'I – isn't there already one for me…?'  
'Unfortunately not. You have to go to Nook's Homes. He'll build one for you, wherever you want it! Within reason, of course.' She pulled a map out, identical to Jin's, and pointed to the tracks at the top.  
'You see those train tracks? Just cross those and you'll get to Main Street, the shopping district. You'll be able to make your own way easily from there.'  
'T-tracks…'  
Isabelle caught Jin's eye. 'Jin, it's fine. The reason the accident happened was because the animal didn't pay attention to the warnings. If a train's coming, then lights flash and a barrier comes down. The animal either didn't see it, or decided to cross anyway.' Isabelle took a deep breath. 'Anyway, you should get going. Come back when you've got everything sorted, and we can get you officially registered!'  
Jin stepped out in the summer day, a blast of warm wind blowing her chestnut hair back. She walked back the way she came, crossing the bridge where she had met Cherry, and as she passed the police station she thought about where she could ask this Nook to build her house. She wouldn't have minded living near Cherry, although that being said, she had no idea where Cherry's house was. It could have been in a very crowded part of town, where there was hardly enough room to breathe. The town seemed to be separated into two distinct halves, separated by the winding river. Upon inspection of her map, Jin saw that the lower part of town, where the Town Hall was, seemed to be bigger and thus more crowded, with slightly more houses and buildings. Jin counted them. There was the Town Hall, obviously, a café, the town plaza, a campsite, and a recycling store which seemed to be called Re-Tail. On top of that, there were the villagers – apparently on this side of town, there lived a Sally, a Rowan, a Roscoe, a Quillson, an Antonio, a Cherry – well, just Cherry – a Lily, and a Taïga. Thinking back, Jin remembered that Taïga was the mayor. _I'll have to thank her for letting me move in when I get the chance, _thought Jin.  
On the other, smaller, less densely-populated part of town, there was the police station, the train station, and only two houses, belonging to a Kitt and an Octavian.  
_It looks like I might have to build my house on this half, _thought Jin. She supposed that another house would liven it up a little.  
Jin took a deep breath as she approached the tracks. She couldn't bear to look to the left, where the accident had happened. Just thinking about it made her taste acidic vomit. Closing her eyes, Jin stepped smartly across the tracks as quickly as she could. When she opened them, she was in front of some concrete stairs.  
She had crossed the tracks. 


	3. Chapter 3

'Hello!' said a chirpy voice as Jin opened the door of the real estate office. _Nook's Homes, _it said outside on the sign.  
'Ah! You must be Jin! So good to finally meet you, yes?'  
Tom Nook was a small, rotund brown raccoon, wearing a smart green sweater vest and red tie. He shook Jin's hand, and it was all she could do not to wipe it on her shirt afterwards, when his back was turned. Even though there were animals, humans and hybrids in her old town, she only spoke to the animals and hybrids if she had to. She had heard that the elusive mayor was also a human, but everyone else she had met were animals. Jin knew that she'd have to get used to it.  
'Well, first of all,' said Nook, 'welcome to Aniville, yes, yes! Now, you came to build a house? Of course you did! Have you decided where to build it?'  
This all happened so fast that all Jin could do was say stupidly, 'Yeah, I know where.'  
'Excellent! Show me where, then!'  
The second time Jin had to cross the tracks, she didn't feel as scared. She kept her eyes open and realised that really, it wasn't so bad. Once they were safely across, Nook sighed.  
'What is it?' asked Jin.  
'It's such a shame that Shep had to die.'  
_Shep, _thought Jin. So that was the animal's name? Shep?  
'Yeah. It is.'  
'It must have been worse for you. You watched it happen, yes?'  
Jin's mouth went dry. 'Yes.'  
'It is truly a tragedy. Now, where would you like to build your house?'  
Jin thought it was strange that Nook didn't mourn Shep a little more. It was almost as though he didn't care. This was such a small town, it wasn't too much of a stretch to imagine that all the shops and whatnot would close for a day or two in the event of a death.  
'Here,' Jin said. It was a small patch beside the river.  
'Hm…' Nook surveyed the area. 'Yes, this would be perfect. And it is close to the river, so if you like fishing, it's ideal! Is this where you want to build it?'  
'Yes.'  
'Yes, yes! Let me mark it out as yours…'  
Nook whipped some long sticks and rope seemingly out of thin air, and placed them in a simple rectangle shape.  
'Here we are! Now, for building materials, land, crew…' he counted it out on his – fingers? Jin wasn't too sure what to call them – 'Well, it's a little too complex to work out just now. Come by my office later, and we'll work it out then.' Nook was about to walk away, when he remembered something. 'Ah! But you still need a place to rest your head, don't you?'

Jin sighed as she walked into the tent. Nook had 'generously' set it up for her. When she went to complain to him, she couldn't get a word in edgeways whilst he told her about the various things he had to pay for the build her house. In the end, it turned out that the down payment for the smallest house – one room of the smallest size – cost 10,000 Bells.

Jin had no Bells. Whilst the currency was the same as her old town, she had stupidly forgotten to bring any money, assuming that she'd find a job easily once she arrived – as a waitress, or maybe a secretary. The job of secretary seemed already taken.  
On the bright side, Nook had told her how to earn money. Fishing, bug-catching, fossil-hunting, and fruit-collecting seemed to be pastimes that raked in a lot of money. Fruit-collecting was the first thing to do, as she currently had no way of buying a fishing rod, net, or shovel.  
'Um…Jin? Are you in?'  
Jin looked over. Standing at the flap of the tent was Isabelle.  
'Oh, come in, Isabelle.'  
Isabelle smiled at her. After being told the crushing news of just how much her house would cost, Jin went to the Town Hall and became thoroughly cheered up when Isabelle produced something called a Town Pass Card – 'A TPC for short! It's your proof of residency for Aniville!' – and told her what it meant. With the TPC, Jin could now travel freely between the neighbouring towns, which included but were not limited to Midgard, Limon, Babylon, Treehut, and Twinleaf, provided she had a picture of herself on it, which she could get taken at the photo booth in Main Street. She had warmed up to Isabelle greatly as a result.

'It's great camping, isn't it? It reminds me of when I was a kid. Me and my brother Digby used to go to rural Twinleaf and camp out there.' Her eyes became misty. 'We'd have a fire and we'd cook marshmallows and popcorn over it. We'd almost always burn it, but do you know what? That just made it even better!' Isabelle sighed, and then snapped to attention. 'Ah! I went off on a tangent, didn't I? Sorry. Mayor Taïga hates it! Anyway, I brought something for you! Think of it as a welcome gift of sorts.'  
Isabelle handed the gift to Jin with a warm smile. 'It's a lantern! It's still pretty light out, but I thought you might want light tonight as well. Can you just flick the switch on for me?'  
The lantern flickered on, illuminating the dust decorating it, filling the tent with a dim light. Isabelle grinned. 'Oh, it works! It's been in the Town Hall for a while so I wasn't sure if it would work, but it seems like it does!' Isabelle smiled at her. 'I think that Mayor Taïga was going to come and say hi. I think, because Aniville is so far away from most other towns, people don't really want to come here, so the Mayor is always happy to see new arrivals! Well, I think I'll be going now. Sorry to intrude.'  
Isabelle took her leave, bells jingling softly as she went. Jin looked around. It _was _like camping, she thought. It, too, reminded her of her childhood. The family used to go every year – of course, they had to stop after the time Jin almost drowned in the river – but it was still fun.  
The flap of the tent unzipped, and in walked a human. Jin stared at her. She stared at Jin. The human had dyed pink hair, the colour of bubblegum, pulled back into a bun. She wore an eye patch, the sort hospitals gave out, with a black denim jacket and matching skirt. Her boots were shiny and red, with yellow laces. Tucked behind her left ear were a few four-leaf-clovers, the same colour as her eyes, which critically surveyed Jin.  
'Hello,' Jin ventured cautiously.  
'Hey,' said the human, grinning.  
'Um…' _What are you doing here? _was what Jin wanted to ask, but it seemed wrong, too rude. This woman, in spite of her bright hair and casual clothes, exuded an air of authority, and Jin felt that it would end badly for her if she were to challenge it.  
'I'm Taïga,' the woman said. 'The mayor. And you're Jin, right?'  
'Yeah. I'm Jin.' She extended her hand, but Taïga turned her back, looking around at the tent.  
'It's great that you get a tent,' she said. 'Nook's a bit…stingy. He always does this. I'm the mayor, but he gave me a tent when I first moved here.'  
This took Jin by surprise. 'You, Mayor?'  
Taïga waved a hand in front of her face and laughed. 'Please, you haven't got to be so formal. Just Taïga is fine.'  
'Alright,' Jin said. 'Taïga.'  
'Yes. So, how are you liking Aniville so far?'  
_Apart from practically watching an animal crushed to death on the tracks? _'It's really nice here.'  
'Yeah, it is.' There were a few seconds of silence. Taïga seemed to be waiting for a more in-depth answer from Jin.  
'I mean, I used to live in a big city. So it's nice to come here and be able to _breathe, _you know.'  
This seemed to satisfy the mayor. 'Yes, it is. So anyway, how much is the down payment for this? 10,000?'  
Jin stiffened. The way she quickly steered the conversation from Aniville in general to the down payment of Jin's house reminded vaguely of Tom Nook.  
'Yeah, it's 10,000.'  
Taïga grinned and produced something from her bag, flinging it down at Jin's feet. 'This might help. I've gotta go now. Make sure you pay Nook before twelve, alright? That way your house will be done by morning. Well, see ya!' Taïga left as quickly as she came.  
Once she had gone, Jin knelt down and examined the thing she had been given. A big sack, tied with string at the top. When she peered in, all Jin could see was gold. This was enough for Nook's down payment nine times over.  
When somebody else approached the door, Jin quickly tucked the money into her still-unpacked suitcase and tossed it to the corner of the tent.  
'Yo, Jin! It's Cherry! Mind if I come in?'  
'Sure, just let yourself in.'  
Cherry grinned as she padded into the room. 'Well, this is…nice, ain't it?'  
'Yeah, it's great.'  
'Are you gonna come for a drink later, then? Everyone's going, you know, to remember Shep. You can meet everyone else then.'  
'Alcohol?' The last time Jin had drunk anything alcoholic, she'd woken up with a pounding headache and a trashed house.  
Cherry laughed. 'No, silly. Coffee. Or tea, or hot chocolate, whatever. At the café. I'll buy you one if you ain't got the money.'  
'Oh, no thanks, Cherry. I mean, to buying me a coffee. Of course I'll come. What time?'  
'Half eight.'  
'Alright, thanks for inviting me.'  
'See you later, then.'  
Cherry, like Taïga, left as quickly as she came.


	4. Chapter 4

Jin swung open the door of the café, spilling light out into the dark night. The room was small yet welcoming, somewhat cramped yet warm. It seemed as though all the villagers were here, although Taïga was nowhere to be seen.  
'Jin!' called a voice. Cherry was sitting at a table with two other animals. Jin approached carefully.  
'You made it!' she said. 'Sit down, sit down! Alright, let me introduce you. This – ' sitting opposite Cherry was a red octopus – 'is Octavian.' Opposite the empty seat which Jin slid into was a black horse, with eyes red as sin.  
'This is Roscoe,' Cherry said. Neither of the two seemed overly keen to socialize, but Octavian nodded amicably at Jin.  
The room was filled with noise and music and light, and even as she went up to get a coffee Jin could feel the eyes staring at her from all around the room. Snatches of conversation floated past her ears as she told her order to the pigeon at the counter, who was washing up a glass.  
'I still don't understand how he could have done it…'  
'It was an accident…'  
'I don't believe that for a second…'  
'Of course, if it was on purpose, everyone knows why he did it…'  
Jin may have been new in town, but she had a vague idea of what they were talking about. Shep.

'Here…200 Bells…' Jin had thought, at first, that the pigeon, with his menacing eyes and slight city accent, was tough, not to be crossed. Her delinquent first impression seemed wrong, somehow. If anything, he seemed cripplingly shy.  
Jin handed over the coins and brought the coffee to her mouth. It smelled delicious. She could feel the warmth radiating up from the cup as she walked back to her table with it. Roscoe, Octavian and Cherry were deep in conversation, and didn't seem to notice Jin.  
'But,' said Cherry, 'there was no _reason _for him to do it. There's no cameras or anything, and he was quite small. Maybe he was in a rush and thought that if he slipped under the barrier quickly, he could get to Main Street without any trouble –'  
Octavian let out a harsh laugh. 'Ridiculous.'  
'I agree,' said Roscoe gruffly. 'You really think he'd do that? That he was that stupid? It was suicide.'  
Suicide. A cold, harsh, alienating word.  
'We all know exactly what it was,' Roscoe continued. 'You haven't got to be depressed to top yourself.'  
'Ask Digby!' said Cherry hotly. 'He saw it happen, he was there. He'll tell you that it wasn't suicide.'  
'He was at the showcase!' Roscoe spat, obviously getting agitated. 'Cherry, that's way too far away to see.'  
'Well, whatever. I'm not going to talk to you anymore. I'm gonna go and talk to Kitt.' Cherry stood up and walked away, not even bothering to ask if Jin wanted to go with her. Kitt appeared to a kangaroo with a sleeping joey in her pouch. She was crying. Comforting her was a brown squirrel and an aqua frog.  
'Stupid animal,' mumbled Roscoe. Jin thought for a second that he was talking about Cherry, and opened her mouth to tell him off for talking about her new friend that way. But it appeared that he had forgotten all about her.  
'She didn't even know him well. Actually, I think she actively disliked him. What's she bloody crying for?'  
Octavian nodded in agreement, but didn't really seem to be listening.  
'Wait. You saw it, right?' When Jin looked up, she found Roscoe staring at her.  
'W-well, I didn't _see _it, per say, but it…I mean, the train stopped and there was blood everywhere…'  
Roscoe clicked his teeth. 'Well, what do you think it was? Suicide or accident?'  
'How could I know that when I didn't know who he was? Was he quite happy with life, or –'  
'Like I said,' Roscoe interrupted, 'you don't have to be depressed to top yourself.'  
'Well…I don't know. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. Suicide, I mean.'  
'Mm.'  
He didn't seem to impressed with Jin's answer.  
'Why do you think he did it, Roscoe?' asked Octavian.  
'I can only assume that he threw himself onto the tracks rather than live here,' he answered bitterly.  
Jin wanted to hear more of the conversation, but Cherry bounded over, electing to ignore Roscoe and Octavian.  
'Jin, come and sit with us!'  
Jin smiled at the two animals. 'Bye.'  
They didn't respond, so Jin followed Cherry into the corner. Sitting there was the sobbing kangaroo, the frog and the squirrel.  
'Guys, this is Jin,' said Cherry. 'Jin, this is Sally, Lily and Kitt.'  
Kitt was the weeping kangaroo. Sally was the hazel squirrel. Lily was the brown-eyed, aqua frog.  
'Hi, Jin. It's so nice to see new arrivals,' said Sally serenely.  
'Yes, it's lovely to meet you,' smiled Lily.  
Kitt could hardly say anything for sobbing, but she gave Jin as friendly a look as she could muster.  
For a few hours the four sat there, chatting absent-mindedly about various different things. She discovered that the clothes Lily was wearing had been designed by Dany, who 'used to live here'. Sally was the youngest of six children. When Kitt had calmed down, she told Jin of her coffee preferences – blend beans, the regular amount of milk, and two spoonfuls of sugar.  
It seemed they were doing everything they could to avoid talking about Shep.


End file.
